Citation

Massin, Sophie & Kopp, Pierre (2011). Alcohol consumption and happiness: an empirical analysis using Russian panel data. Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne,Université Paris 1 Working Paper.

Abstract

This paper is based on the idea that the consumption of addictive goods is very likely to rely on an imperfect decision process and gains being analysed through subjective satisfaction data. It uses data from the RLMS-HSE (Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey –Higher School of Economics) to examine the links between alcohol consumption and
subjective well-being. In most subsamples, we find that the correlation between satisfaction
and alcohol consumption is hump-shaped, but that satisfaction is linearly decreasing with the quantity consumed when the causal effect of alcohol on satisfaction is isolated. The study of changes in consumption habits indicates that moderate-high drinking is associated with durable low levels of satisfaction, but that heavy drinking could work as an efficient self-
medication device.

Reference Type

Journal Article

Year Published

2011

Journal Title

Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne,
Université Paris 1 Working Paper

Author(s)

Massin, Sophie
Kopp, Pierre